Cargo lamps are commonly used as a light source for illuminating the interior passenger compartment of a vehicle. Typically, a passenger vehicle will include at least one cargo lamp in the form of a dome lamp centrally located in the headliner between the first and second rows of seats. For vans and vehicles having a third row of seating, a second cargo lamp is often provided in the headliner at the rear of the vehicle. Sometimes additional lighting is desirable beyond the fixed OEM lighting sources normally included with a vehicle. For this reason, people often equip their vehicle with a flashlight or other mobile light source that is usually stored in the glove box. This provides a mobile light source that can be used inside or outside of the vehicle.
Ordinary flashlights stored in a vehicle for occasional use do, however, have their drawbacks. First, flashlights kept in the vehicle are normally only infrequently used and, because they typically run from batteries, it is not uncommon for the user to find that the batteries are dead when attempting to use the flashlight after many months of being stored unused in the vehicle. Second, flashlights are mobile and often small and they can easily be misplaced within the interior of the vehicle.
Various attempts have been made to integrate flashlights into the vehicle so that they are stored and readily available from a single location within the vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,134 issued to Rossi discloses an interior compartment light that is detachable from its housing and can be used as a flashlight, which eliminates the need for a consumer to carry a separate, ordinary flashlight within the vehicle. Other combination dome/flashlights are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,643 to Leach, U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,495 to Roberts, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,131 to Morimoto. Apart from dome lamps, flashlights have been integrated into the vehicle in other ways. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,340 issued to Colton discloses a flashlight replacement for a vehicle ashtray. The ashtray is removed and replaced by the flashlight, which can have an electrical contact for charging of the flashlight batteries when the flashlight is stored in the ashtray opening.
One problem with these prior art combination dome/flashlights is that automobile manufacturers normally want to offer consumers both high and low end vehicle options, and these combination devices are typically classified as a higher end feature for which there may be no lower end option for the vehicle. Thus, the manufacturer may feel that he has to make a decision at the design stage to either equip all of the vehicles of a particular make with the combination device, or none at all and just use a conventional type cargo lamp. Because of the additional cost that these combination devices usually add to the vehicle, it can be safer to stay with a conventional cargo lamp for lower cost than it is to impose a higher cost combination device on everyone, especially when only some consumers will want, or be willing to pay for, the more expensive combination device. As a result, manufacturers may elect not to equip the vehicles with these devices at all. Furthermore, even where the manufacturer does decide to provide the consumer with an option between a conventional cargo lamp and a combination flashlight/cargo lamp, installation into the vehicle of one or the other may have to be made by the manufacturer at the time of assembly of the vehicle. This can be problematic for dealers who typically order a certain quantity of stock and must make guesses as to which combinations of pre-configured options will be desired by its customers.
In the case of the device disclosed in the Colton patent, the flashlight and ashtray are interchangeable, thereby giving the consumer a choice between different options for use of the ashtray compartment space. However, this arrangement also has a drawback in that the flashlight eliminates the replaced device's (i.e., the ashtray's) function since there is no ashtray built into the flashlight. And a consumer may prefer to have both a flashlight and ashtray in the vehicle.